Court keeping abreast of Janet issue May 5, 2009 Washingtin - The US Supreme Court on Monday ordered a federal appeals court to re-examine its verdict in favor of the CBS network that aired a 2004 broadcast in which pop superstar Janet Jackson bared her breast. The court threw out a decision by the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals last July which nullified the $550 000 (about R4-million) fine imposed by the Federal Communications Commission on the CBS network for breaking indecency rules after Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during a halftime performance at the Superbowl. The high court said in a statement it ordered the re-examination “in light of FCC vs Fox Television stations,” in which its own narrowly-divided ruling late last month determined that US regulators can impose fines on television and radio broadcasters for allowing “fleeting expletives” - curse words used in passing - to go out over the airwaves. Prosecutors had asked the Supreme Court’s nine justices to weigh in on the Jackson case - branded “Nipplegate” by US media - that raised eyebrows and stirred passions in the United States, where nudity on non-pay television is for the most part a no-no. The youngest sister of Michael Jackson and an international pop icon in her own right was performing live at the Superbowl US football championship when the attention-getting move took place, in a carefully choreographed routine featuring her and fellow pop star Justin Timberlake. During the show Timberlake tore off part of Jackson’s bustier, exposing her breast for a fraction of a second to some 90 million viewers and prompting howls of outrage from lawmakers and regulators who vowed a crackdown on indecency. CBS apologized for the incident but in 2004 it was ordered to pay the $550 000 fine, the stiffest penalty the agency could levy against the network. The US court of appeals in Philadelphia ruled last year in favor of the network, arguing that the FCC acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in levying its fine for fleeting nudity. But in similar language, on April 28 the court ruled that the FCC, the agency which regulates US broadcast media, was “neither arbitrary nor capricious” in imposing a zero-tolerance policy on vulgar language, overturning an appeals court decision involving an expletive uttered by singer Bono of Irish rock band U2 in a 2003 broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards. That decision did not apply to cable television channels, which are given wider latitude in the use of profanity and nudity. Jackson, whose split professional personality bounces between bubbly pop singer, dance beat commander and sultry bedroom dominatrix, is one of the most successful women in pop music history, with her 1993 album “Janet” selling more than 20 million copies worldwide.
